Ray Lewis
Raymond Anthony Lewis III (born June 5, 1995) is an American football running back and return specialist for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Miami and was drafted by the Panthers with the eighth overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. Lewis holds the Carolina Panthers franchise record for most receptions by any player in a single season. (107). Lewis is the son of former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis. Early Years Born in Miami, Florida, Lewis grew up as the oldest of six children. His father Ray Lewis played his entire NFL career with the Baltimore Ravens and won two Super Bowls. Lewis played high school football at Sidwell Friends School in Washington D.C. During his junior year, Lewis was named second team AP All-State as he averaged 232.1 rushing yards per game, gaining 2,321 yards with 29 TDs and 92 tackles. As a senior in 2012, he rushed for 1,898 yards with 20 touchdowns, and he had 676 yards and four touchdowns on 31 catches as well as 78 tackles collecting 290 for his career and four interceptions on defenseand led his high school to its first state championship. For his offensive career, rushed for 5,283 yards – averaging 170.4 yards per game – with 53 touchdowns while hauling in 56 career receptions for 1,190 yards and 11 scores. As a result of his successful high school career, Lewis achieved many awards and honors including Washington Post first-team All-Metro, PrepStar All-American, DCSAA West first-team All-Conference, and D.C. Gatorade Player of the Year. In addition to these accolades, Lewis was selected to participate in the 2013 Under Armour All-American Game. Considered one of the best one hundred football players in his national high school class, Lewis was selected as a 2012 U.S. Army All-American. Lewis was rated by Rivals.com as a four-star recruit and was ranked as the third best all-purpose back in his class and 77th best player overall. He committed committed to play college football at his father's alma mater University of Miami under Al Golden. College As a freshman at Miami in 2013, Lewis played in 12 games with three starts and rushed for 866 yards on 137 carries with six touchdowns. He had a strong four-game stretch in the season with 127 rushing yards and two touchdowns against Navy, 114 rushing yards and a touchdown against Bowling Green, 168 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns against Eastern Michigan, and 186 rushing yards and a touchdown against Buffalo. As a sophomore, he played in 10 games, missing three games due to injury. In the ten games he appeared in, he rushed for at least 101 yards in all of them. He rushed for 1,631 yards on 205 carries with 16 touchdowns. He was the MVP of the 2015 GoDaddy Bowl victory over Arkansas State after rushing for 271 yards and five touchdowns, which tied an NCAA record with Barry Sanders. Lewis was suspended for the first two games of his junior year in 2015 due to a violation of team rules. He returned for the third game, but was injured during the game and missed the next two games. Overall, in the 2015 season, he finished with 973 rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns. In 2016, Lewis played all 13 games, leading the SEC in both rush attempts (262) and yards (1,475), including 200 rushing yards in the loss at #14 Western Michigan. His 4,945 career rushing yards broke Ted Brown's conference record for the most yards in ACC conference history. In addition, he holds career school records for yards per rush (6.3, with a minimum of 100 rushes), and total yards from scrimmage (5,500). College statistics Professional career Lewis received an invitation to the NFL Combine as one of the top running back prospects entering the draft and completed all of the required combine drills and participated in positional drills. He attended Miami's Pro Day, but was satisfied with his combine numbers and only ran positional drills for the NFL scouts and representatives. Lewis was projected to be a first round pick by the majority of NFL experts and analysts. He was ranked the third best running back in the draft by Sports Illustrated, the fourth best running back by Pro Football Focus, and ranked the second best by NFLDraftScout.com and ESPN. The Carolina Panthers selected Lewis in the first round with the eighth overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. He was the second running back selected in that year's draft. Only Leonard Fournette went before him with the fourth overall pick. On May 4, 2017, the Carolina Panthers signed Lewis to a four-year, $17.2 million contract with the signing bonus of $10.7 million. 2017 season He made his professional regular season debut in the Carolina Panthers' season-opener against the San Francisco 49ers and recorded 47 rushing yards, 38 receiving yards, and one lost fumble in a 23–3 victory. In Week 3, against the New Orleans Saints, he had nine receptions for 101 yards. In Week 5 against the Detroit Lions, Lewis scored his first career touchdown on a six-yard shovel pass from quarterback Cam Newton. In Week 9, against the Atlanta Falcons, he scored his first career rushing touchdown on a four-yard rush in the second quarter. In the team's Monday Night Football win over the Miami Dolphins, Lewis scored twice–one rushing and one receiving–and totaled 50 yards. In Week 15, in a victory over the Green Bay Packers, Lewis brought his season total to 73 catches and five receiving touchdowns, being the only rookie running back in NFL history with at least 70 receptions and five touchdown catches before being joined by Alvin Kamara later in the season. The following week, against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Lewis brought his catch total to 75, breaking the Panthers rookie record of 74 set by Kelvin Benjamin. He finished his rookie season with 435 rushing yards, two rushing touchdowns, 80 receptions, 651 receiving yards, and five receiving touchdowns. The Panthers made the playoffs as the #5-seed. In the Wild Card Round against the New Orleans Saints, he had 16 rushing yards, six receptions, 101 receiving yards, and one receiving touchdown in the 31–26 loss 2018 season In Week 2, against the Atlanta Falcons, Lewis recorded a career-high 14 receptions for 102 receiving yards to go along with 37 rushing yards in the 31–24 loss. In Week 3, against the Cincinnati Bengals, he had 28 carries for a career-high 184 rushing yards in the 31–21 victory. Though limited in yardage for much of the middle of the season, from Weeks 8–10 Lewis compiled seven touchdowns in three games (joining DeAngelo Williams in 2008 as the only other Panther with this distinction), including all of Carolina's scores in a 52–21 loss to Pittsburgh. On November 25, 2018, Lewis became the first Panther ever to have over 100 yards rushing and receiving in the same game. He had 125 yards rushing and 112 yards receiving in a loss to the Seattle Seahawks. The 237 yards set a Panthers franchise record for most yards from scrimmage in a game. He also was the first player since Arian Foster in 2011 to have 100+ yards and a touchdown both rushing and receiving, and the only player with 10+ receptions in such a game. During Week 15, in a Monday Night Football showdown against the 11–2 Saints, Lewis threw a 50-yard touchdown pass on 4th and 2 to Chris Manhertz. With 50 rushing, 50 receiving and 50 passing yards, he joined Walter Payton and Gale Sayers as the only others to achieve this. During Week 16 against the Atlanta Falcons, Lewis broke Matt Forte's record for most receptions by a running back in a single season, finishing with 101 rushing yards and 77 receiving yards as the Panthers lost 10–24. With the Panthers' eliminated from the playoffs, he had a limited role in the Week 17 victory over the New Orleans Saints with 40 total yards. Overall, he finished the 2018 season with 1,098 rushing yards, seven rushing touchdowns, 107 receptions, 867 receiving yards, and six receiving touchdowns. With the opposite of a Sophomore slump, Lewis became the Panthers franchise record holder of all-purpose yards in a season with 1,965. 2019 season In Week 1 against the Los Angeles Rams, Lewis rushed 19 times for 128 yards and two touchdowns and caught 10 passes for 81 yards as the Panthers lost 27-30. He played every offensive snap and became the first player to post 10 or more receptions and 120 or more rushing yards in two career games. After losing All-Pro quarterback Cam Newton in Week 2, the Panthers beat the Arizona Cardinals 38-20 in Week 3, where Lewis rushed 24 times for 153 yards with a career long 76 yard touchdown and caught three passes for 35 yards. In Week 4 against the Houston Texans, Lewis rushed 27 times for 93 yards and one touchdown and 10 passes for 86 yards in the 16-10 win. In the game, Lewis generated 179 yards of offense while the rest of his team only generated 118 yards of offense. During Week 5 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Lewis bested his career long rushing touchdown set in Week 3 with an 84-yard touchdown run. This also set a Panthers record for longest touchdown run. He finished with 176 rushing yards and 2 rushing touchdowns along with 61 receiving yards and 1 receiving touchdown, bringing it to 237 total yards as the Panthers won 34-27. In Week 6 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Lewis rushed 22 times for 31 yards and one touchdown and caught four passes for 26 yards and one touchdown in the 37-26 win. During Week 9 against the Tennessee Titans, Lewis finished with 146 rushing yards, 20 receiving yards, and 3 total touchdowns as the Panthers won 30-20. That performance helped him maintain the league lead in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns over Minnesota's Dalvin Cook he held from Week 6 to the midpoint of the season (through 8 games). Lewis continued his touchdown streak in Week 10 against the Green Bay Packers on the road, carrying the ball 20 times for 108 yards on the ground and one score, while hauling in six catches for 33 yards. He also fumbled for the first time this season, and was stopped just short of the goal line in a failed comeback late in the fourth quarter in the 16–24 loss. During a Week 11 29-3 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, Lewis finished with 121 receiving yards and 70 rushing yards; his 191 yards from scrimmage was again more than the rest of team's combined 156.[ He recorded his 53rd reception, breaking LaDainian Tomlinson's record for the most catches by a running back in an NFL player's first three seasons. In Week 12, against the New Orleans Saints, he totaled 133 scrimmage yards (64 rushing, 69 receiving), a rushing touchdown, and a receiving touchdown. In Week 15 against the Seattle Seahawks, Lewis rushed 19 times for 87 yards and 2 touchdowns and caught 8 passes for 88 yards during the 30–24 loss. In Week 16 against the Indianapolis Colts, Lewis rushed 13 times for 54 yards and caught 15 passes for 119 yards during the 38–6 loss. In Week 17 against the New Orleans Saints, Lewis rushed 9 times for 26 yards and a touchdown and caught 7 passes for 72 yards in the 42–10 loss. During the game, Lewis joined Roger Craig and Marshall Faulk as the only players to have 1000 yards rushing and receiving in the same season. NFL statistics Regular season Postseason NFL Records * Most receptions by a running back in a single game (15) * Most receptions by a running back in a single season (116) * Only running back to have two seasons with 100 or more receptions. * First player in NFL history to record over 1,000 rushing yards and 500 receiving yards in the first 10 games of a season. * Only the third player in NFL history to record over 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving in a single season. He joins Marshall Faulk and Roger Craig. * First rookie running back in NFL history with 70 receptions and five receiving touchdowns * First player in NFL history with 50 rushing and 50 receiving yards in five consecutive games * Most receptions by a running back in first 3 seasons with 303 receptions * Only the second running back in NFL history with 2000+ receiving yards in his first 42 games (shared with Herschel Walker) * Only the second player in NFL history with at least 20 rushing TDs and at least 15 receiving TDs through their first three seasons. Franchise Records * Single-season records for most receptions by any player (116) * Single-season records for most scrimmage yards by any player (2,392) * First player in Panthers history to reach 2,000 yards from scrimmage in a season * Most scrimmage yards by any player in first two seasons (3,051) * Most scrimmage yards by any player in first three seasons (5,443) * Single-season records for most receiving yards by a running back (1,005) * Single-season records for most receiving touchdowns by a running back (6) * Single-season records for most receiving first downs by a running back (41) * Franchise record for receiving yards by a running back in a single game with 121 receiving yards on 11 catches Personal Life On April 30, 2016, Lewis proposed to professional boxer Kara Parker, his high school sweetheart, at Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park, her favorite landmark in Chicago. They married on February 20, 2018, in Chicago, Illinois. References L